


Shore Leave

by abrokenpieceoftruth



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-06 20:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6768988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrokenpieceoftruth/pseuds/abrokenpieceoftruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When yet another of the captain's leaves is cut short, Chakotay is determined to make things right. He's finally gotten her to beam down to the planet—and, come hell or high water, she's not coming back for three days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"And you promise you'll contact me if there's any trouble?" the captain confirmed. Her suitcase was Starfleet-issued, but her floral top and linen pants made it clear that this was no away mission.

"Nothing's going to happen," Chakotay assured her. "We've taken every precaution. Don't worry about us, captain—just enjoy your leave."

She hesitated once more, and Chakotay was afraid she'd demand an actual promise. But at last, she turned and stepped onto the transporter pad. "You'd better be in one piece when I get back," she warned.

He could only laugh. "See you in a few days, Captain."

Eyes twinkling, she nodded. "Engage." The ensign at the station sent her off in a blue light, and Chakotay headed back up to the bridge with a sigh of relief.

It had been an uphill battle getting the captain off the ship, even for just 3 days. Every time he brought it up, she thought of another reason why it would be a bad idea. But, he persisted, in the name of justice: in all their years in the Delta Quadrant, she had never managed to finish her shore leave.

Oh, there had been little trips, of course, that went by smoothly—a few hours of relaxation in the midst of a negotiation, or an overnight visit here and there with some of the other officers. The Doctor would hardly let her get away with never stepping off the ship. But every time they managed to schedule in a real vacation for her—by herself, where she wouldn't have to be the captain—it was interrupted, leaving her endlessly paranoid about taking her eyes off her crew. Just a few months ago they had managed to convince her to go explore a nearby system, but not two days in they'd had to call her back because Seven and Tuvok had been kidnapped while on their own exploration. Chakotay was beginning to think something in the universe had it out for her.

Then they had spotted this beautiful planet, in one of the safest sectors they'd traversed thus far, and Chakotay saw his opportunity to right the wrong the universe had done her. This time, her stay would go entirely uninterrupted.

"Did she leave?" Tom asked as soon as the commander stepped onto the bridge.

"Eventually," Chakotay replied. He was glad Tom was there—in fact, all the senior staff had either staggered or forfeited their leaves so they could stay on board while the captain was away. This reassured both the captain and the commander of the ship's safety—somehow, he suspected they would still have trouble. "Report."

"I finished checking up on the resort," said Harry. "All the staff are clean, and the four other guests are fine as well. No one else is scheduled to arrive while the captain is staying there, and it's far enough away from the city that she shouldn't be bothered by any of the local politicians or diplomats. But, if something does come up, the director of the resort has a direct line to us."

"Excellent," Chakotay said. "Tuvok?"

"I've spoken to the chief of police," Tuvok intoned. "Currently there are no known threats, but she assured me that she would contact us if she learned anything."

Chakotay nodded. "And Tom? How's the ship?"

Tom flicked through the readouts on the helm. "According to B'Elanna, never better. We're just about done with all the rehaul we started last week, and aside from what we're still tinkering with, everything is functioning at optimum levels." He grinned and turned around. "I think we could even take on a Borg cube without the captain being any wiser."

"Let's not jinx it, Tom," Chakotay cautioned. "Nothing's going to happen—we're just preparing for the worst so it can't take us by surprise." He paused for a moment to think. "Let's keep the diagnostics running, Tuvok. Harry, why don't you go see if B'Elanna needs a hand in engineering, since most of her staff is on leave. And Tom, maintain our orbit." He settled back into his chair, hoping the days would be as uneventful as he could make them.

——

"And this is your room." The resort director, Moira, beamed as she opened the door.

Kathryn's eyes widened. "Someone's getting a promotion for this," she said with awe.

"I believe your first officer, Commander Chakotay, made most of the arrangements," Moira informed her.

"Well, not a promotion then," Kathryn joked. "But look at this view!" Enchanted, she approached the window to gaze at the towering mountains.

"One of our moons rises just over the peak this time of year," Moira said. "It really is a sight to see."

"And it looks like I'll have a front row seat," Kathryn said, indicating the balcony.

Moira smiled. "I'll let you get settled and start exploring. If you have any questions, please feel free to grab any of the staff. They know the area very well and would be happy to recommend some trails."

"Thank you," Kathryn said sincerely. When the other woman left, the first thing she did was flop on the bed with a contented sigh. This was going to be the most relaxing shore leave ever.


	2. Chapter 2

"Need an extra pair of hands, B'Elanna?"

She actually smiled at him—a first while on her shift, at least in the last few months. "Well, the starboard nacelles could use a little polishing," she said. "Feel like going on a spacewalk?" At the sight of his face, she added, "I'm joking, Harry."

"That's why I'm so surprised," Harry said.

B'Elanna punched his arm with a playful glare. He resisted the urge to rub it—he would probably find a bruise there when he went to bed. "Alright Starfleet, if you want to make yourself useful, the deflector hasn't been recalibrated in a while. Feel up to it?"

"I think I can manage it," Harry said. "Anything for the captain, right?"

B'Elanna snorted. "Anything for Chakotay is more like it. This must be the safest part of the quadrant yet—we haven't even come across a stray comet!"

"I don't know…" Harry said in a sing-song voice. "With the captain's luck, I wouldn't be surprised if . . . " He grabbed for words. "If . . . I don't know, the mountain was a—a dormant volcano, or something."

B'Elanna frowned—he had a point, but still. . . . "Come on," she scoffed. "We've run hundreds of scans—at this point, the captain isn't even in danger of getting a paper cut."

Harry shrugged. "She's a magnet for trouble. I guarantee—something is going to go wrong."

"Do I smell a bet coming on?" Tom sauntered up to the console with a smirk.

Of course—leave it to Tom to show up wherever the tension might result in a new betting pool. B'Elanna couldn't help but smile back. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"It's dead up there," Tom responded. "It took about a minute for Chakotay to realize that a monkey could keep the ship in orbit, so he sent me down here to check out the phaser array."

Harry frowned. "Isn't Tuvok already running a diagnostic on that?"

Tom shrugged. "Anything for the captain, am I right?"

Harry met B'Elanna's eyes, and they sighed and nodded. There was no question that the captain deserved a few days to herself—at _minimum_ —and every one of them had immediately volunteered to keep things running smoothly while she was gone, but was all this really necessary?

"Anyway," said Tom. "I believe I interrupted what was about to be the ship's entertainment for the next few days. Care to make a wager, Harry?"

Harry scrunched up his face in thought. "Alright—ten rations says we'll have to cut the captain's vacation short and bring her back to deal with some emergency."

B'Elanna grinned. "You're on." They shook on it, and Tom whipped out his PADD.

"Okay, so ten-ration buy in, Harry's side wins if we have to call the captain back early, even if it's only by a couple of minutes, and B'Elanna wins if she stays the whole trip and comes back well-rested in three days."

"What if we don't _call_ her back, but she still comes back early?" Harry asked.

Tom thought for a minute. "If she comes back because someone told her there was trouble, or because she's in trouble, that counts as calling her back," he decided. "But if she just wakes up and decides she doesn't want to be on the planet anymore, then all bets are off. Deal?"

"Deal," they chorused.

Tom grinned. "I expect the pot will be very large, very quickly." He set down his PADD. "Well, the phasers aren't going to inspect themselves."

"Forget the phasers," B'Elanna said. "With the three of us, we can probably get a bit more juice out of the warp core. Tell Chakotay to take it up with me later if he asks."

"Come on, Tom," Harry said. "If we get caught with our pants down, I'll win the bet in no time."


	3. Chapter 3

Voyager floated lazily in her orbit, never rushing, never wavering. The senior staff were at their posts now, some staring alert into the darkness, others counting the minutes until the end of the shift. There was nothing on the long-range scanners, no threats had been reported on the planet—it was beginning to look as if their attentiveness was, fortunately, unnecessary.

Then, two minutes before the shift would end, the lights went out.

For a moment, all was quiet. Chakotay prayed fervently to his ancestors that they would turn on in a few seconds without incident. 

In that time, Voyager continued to move forward. But, by the time the emergency lights kicked in, the lack of engines had had their effect, and her nose tipped toward the planet.

The bridge erupted into a cacophony of noise, the computer using all available means to warn them of their danger.

"Red alert!" Chakotay called.

Tom frantically stabbed at the dim display. "Engines and helm control are down, we're losing altitude!"

"Chakotay to B'Elanna—"

"We're working on it!" came a voice from his badge.

"Tuvok, are we under attack?"

"Unclear—sensors are down."

"The computer isn't meant to shut down like this," said Harry. "It isn't meant to shut down at all—it'll take some time for us to get control back."

"Tom—"

"One minute, fifty-seven seconds until impact."

"That long enough, Harry?"

"I—I don't know, sir. This has never happened before."

Chakotay's mind was whirling through options. "Well, what's functioning now?"

"Uh," said Harry, tapping his console. "Life support, artificial gravity, emergency lighting, doors, turbolifts, and—replicators."

"Can you divert power from everything but life support and gravity to the engines and the conn?"

"I can try, but it might cause a surge. Ask B'Elanna if the engines can take it."

"Chakotay to B'Elanna—"

"Here."

"Would more power to the engines help?"

"Uh…" Her voice crackled through his comm badge. "It might cause a surge, but if we siphon it—"

"Give them only a little bit at a time—" Harry picked up excitedly.

"Then we might be able to get them to finish their start-up faster."

"Do it!" he told them, and Harry dove into his console as the planet grew larger on the viewscreen.

Not three seconds later, the computer beeped happily and a voice echoed through the bridge. "Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Voyager," it said smoothly.

"What the hell?!" Chakotay said.

"It must be confused," said Tom. "It thinks it's turning on for the first time."

"The U.S.S. Voyager is an Intrepid class starship incorporating the latest in Federation tech—" It cut off abruptly.

"Thanks, Harry," Chakotay said.

Harry shook his head. "Wasn't me, Commander."

"Thirty seconds!" Tom called.

"We might just make it," said Harry.

"Keep trying!" Chakotay said—as if they were going to do anything else. He gripped the armrest and stared at the ever-growing ground beneath them. Absurdly, all he could think was that Kathryn would have a difficult time enjoying her leave if they all died in a fiery crash.

Then, Tom's console beeped. "I have helm control!"

At the same time B'Elanna called "Torres to Chakotay, engines are up!"

By that point, Tom had yanked Voyager's nose up so hard that Harry lost his balance and a few ensigns nearly bruised their noses on their consoles. With the engines on, it was short work to get out of the atmosphere, but Chakotay didn't loosen his grip until Tom confirmed that they had reached a stable orbit.

"Stand down red alert." He let out a long sigh. "Harry, when the captain gets back, remind me to recommend you for a promotion."

"As much as I'd appreciate that, Commander, it wasn't us," Harry said. "We would have been another minute at least."

Chakotay frowned. "Then how—"

"Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay."

He smiled wryly—of course. "Go ahead, Seven."

"The engines are back online, and other systems will resume in due course."

"Do we have you to thank for that?"

"Thanks are unnecessary," Seven responded coolly. "But yes—the computer was overloaded with too many systems to restore, so I reprogrammed it to give priority to the engines."

Chakotay sighed. "Well done, Seven, but in the future, let someone know when you know how to solve the problem."

"Talking is inefficient." There was a touch of confusion in her voice. "We had limited time."

Chakotay was more patient than anyone else would have been. "We'll talk about this later," he said, and he closed the link.

"Okay, second question," he said to the bridge crew. "Why did we lose power?"

Tuvok had the answer. "It appears we were affected by an energy pulse originating from the planet's surface."

Chakotay's stomach lurched—the captain was on the planet, not to mention a quarter of the crew. "Hail the police chief."

Within moments her cheerful face put some of his worries to rest. "How can I help you, Commander?"

He told her about the energy pulse and its effect on her systems, watching her expression change from surprise, to horror, to sheepishness.

"My apologies, Commander," she said. "We are performing routine tests of our security grid which may have caused the pulse. I assure you, its effect on your ship was entirely unintentional. We will hold off all further tests until you are out of orbit."

Chakotay smiled pleasantly and bade her goodbye.

The bridge fell into a semi-bewildered silence until crewmen started to trickle in to take up their posts for the next shift. Harry and Tom walked into the turbolift together.

"Well," said Tom, "you got your emergency."

Harry sighed. "I can't believe we almost crashed into the planet without calling the captain once."

"Cheer up, Harry," Tom said with a grin. "Maybe this is a sign of worse things to come."

Certainly other people seemed to think so, as before they even got to their deck, three more people had joined the pool on Harry's side.


End file.
